James Murray was born on 11 Jun 1829 in Addison, Somerset County, Pennsylvania. When he was 22 years old he married Lydia Beal who had grown up in the same County of Somerset. Lydia (1834-1888) was a bit younger and at the time of their marriage she was only 17 yrs old. James and Lydia started a family right away and after just five months of marriage they had their first child, Alvey Murray. They went on to have six more children, Urias, Franklin, Owen, Levi, Emma and Lizzie. 
The time came for James to serve in the Civil War. So in August of 1864 he left Lydia, and his seven children to fulfill his responsibility. James served as a Private in the Army, Bat. M 6th Art. PA. This was a very tough time for everyone. According to the family Bible, Lydia was having a difficult time managing all the children alone at home. She sent a message to James, who was in the middle of the Civil War, and informed him he had to come home to help her. In June of 1865, apparently that's what he did.
They remained in Somerset County and James worked by farming his land. James and Lydia went on to have seven more children; Margaret, Amanda, Harmon, Sarah, Mary, Martha and Edith.
Lydia passed away in 1883 at the age of 53 years, 5 days. Their youngest child, Edith, was just four years old. That left James with many young children to continue to rear. She was buried in Hostetler Cemetery, Hostetler Church of the Brethren, Greenville Twp, Somerset Co., Pennsylvania.
In 1908, at the age of 79, James Murray passed away. His oldest child was 56 yrs old and his youngest child was 23 years. He is buried in Hostetler Cemetery, right next to his wife, Lydia. James and Lydia should be proud of the life they lived.
Warm regards,
 |
| Hostetler Church of the Brethren, Somerset Co, PA |
Welcome to blogging. I enjoyed reading your post. I wonder how James managed to come home?
ReplyDeleteI cannot imagine having so many children nor having a child at age 49!
I look forward to hearing stories about what happened to the children.
Thank you Bill and Sharon for the nice welcome. Sharon I also wondered how he got to leave the Civil War to come home. If it hadn't been written in the family bible I would have found it hard to believe. I would have thought many would have wanted to just go back home which would not make for an effective war campaign.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to writing in upcoming blogs about his children.
Warm regards,
Liz
She was lucky her husband survived that war; so many were lost. Lee surrendered in Apr 1965 allowing all those men to return home.
ReplyDeleteThanks TCasteel! Then that makes sense... he began serving in 1864 then when Lee surrendered in 1865 that's when he went home. It all comes together.... it would help if I knew my history better :/ Again.. Thanks
ReplyDeleteWarm regards,
Liz
Liz, I just found your blog via GeneaBloggers. I notice you mention somewhere in this blog that it is your second blog, so I looked at your profile page to see what the other one might be--and was delighted to see you are also researching Booth! Although I'm sure it's a long shot, I'm going to pull out my Booth notes and see if there might be any connection.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations and best wishes on the launch of this second blog. And welcome to the GeneaBloggers community!
Dear Liz
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the GeneaBlogging community! Wow - that's 14 children yes? My goodness! They certainly wouldn't have had a moment spare to do any family history - aren't we lucky?! :)
Jacqi that would be exciting if we had some common Booth's!! I keep searching and searching. My Booth's came from Great Britain to New Jersey and Pennsylvania to California.
ReplyDeleteAlex.. Ha Ha .. you better believe it they didn't have a moment to spare. :)
Thanks to you both for looking at my Blog.
Warm regards,
Liz